Tag Archive

Below are some general notes on associations of the God and Goddess. When I speak of the God and Goddess here, I am referring for the general male and female energy. These are associations that make sense to me.
The Goddess

* She is of the Earth and Moon.
* She is the stars and the universe.
* She is water, lakes, rivers, seas, and oceans.
* She is fertility, beginnings, growth, and potential.
* She is wisdom, power, magic, and prophecy.
* She is love and forgiveness, anger and punishment.
* She is war, destruction and vengeance.
* She is death and darkness.

The Goddess is sometimes seen as the Triple Goddess – Maiden, Mother, Crone. In Her Maiden aspect she is associated with the Waxing Moon and innocence. Her Mother aspect is associated with the Full Moon, motherhood and children. Her Crone aspect is associated with the Waning Moon, death, destruction, and wisdom.

I see the Goddess as having both a dark side and a light side. I think that we need to recognize both sides to maintain balance. The Goddess is both death and birth, forgiveness and anger. There is no need to call on this Dark Goddess unless there is a great need. As long as we are aware of Her other side, and honour it, it is fine to focus on Her light side.
The God

* He is of the Sun and Planets.
* He is the forest and mountains.
* He is of the wild animals and the outdoors.
* He is the hunter and the hunted.
* He is the Summer, the heat and the crops.
* He is death and rebirth.
* He is war and retribution.

God energy can be difficult for some Wiccans. There are those who avoid working with the God, sometimes because of past association with male dominated religions. Some Wiccans who focus only on the Goddess claim that they are doing so to help return balance. They argue that male deities have been worshipped exclusively for so long, that they must worship the Goddess alone to balance this out. I don’t agree. Balance is obtained by worshipping both the God and Goddess. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

In general, there are two God myths followed by Wiccans. A group may follow one or the other, both at once, or choose the one most appropriate for the Sabbat they are celebrating. One of these myth cycles is that of the Oak and Holy Kings. These two kings each rule over one part of the year, fighting twice for this rulership. One dies on the appropriate Solstice, relinquishing their rule to the other. The other myth is that of the dying and reborn God, who is born to the Goddess at Yule, grows to marry Her, and dies again at Samhain (or Mabon, depending on the tradition). Through your study you can determine which of these myths are right for you. The mythology you follow may have a myth that fits one of these cycles – for example, the myth of Isis, Osiris and Horus.

There has also been a move toward a Triple God to balance the Triple Goddess. The God appears as the Horned God of nature to balance the Maiden, the Sun God of abundance to balance the Mother, and the Lord of the Underworld or the Sage to balance the Crone. This Triple God symbolism isn’t yet (nor may never be) widely used in Wicca, perhaps because it is more difficult to fit into the traditional cycle of the Sabbats with the death and rebirth of the God and the maturing of the Goddess.